French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Wednesday faces one of the most delicate moments of his five months in office as he responds to questions from a parliamentary committee investigating claims of sexual abuse at a Catholic school.
Bayrou has faced accusations from the opposition that as education minister in the mid-1990s he knew of widespread physical and sexual abuse at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school in southwestern France over many decades.
The 73-year-old politician, who served as France’s education minister between 1993 and 1997, has denied any wrong-doing and denounced what he calls a campaign of “destruction” against him.
Speaking on Saturday, he said his appearance before the committee would give him an “opportunity to prove that all this was false”.
Centrist Bayrou, the sixth prime minister of President Emmanuel Macron’s mandate, was named head of government last December. He has been given the daunting task of hauling France out of months of political crisis.
Until now Bayrou has managed to survive a no-confidence vote in a divided parliament but the Betharram affair has damaged his credibility and his approval rating has been steadily declining in recent weeks.
Bayrou’s popularity rating dropped below that of Macron for the first time last week, according to a poll published on Friday, with only 27 percent of French people approving of his work.
Political analysts have said Bayrou could face further pressure depending on his performance during the hearing, which is set to begin at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) Wednesday.
“The Betharram school scandal may not be sufficient in itself to bring down Bayrou but could embolden his parliamentary enemies, and supposed friends, to pull the plug on the government for other reasons,” said the Eurasia Group.
“Reasons for dissatisfaction abound,” the political risk consultancy added, pointing to France’s budgetary crisis.
‘If he lies, he’s dead’
The two co-rapporteurs of the commission, Paul Vannier and Violette Spillebout, will question Bayrou about what he knew about alleged violence, sexual assault and rape committed at the school near the southwestern town of Pau where Bayrou has been mayor since 2014.
Several of his children attended the Catholic school, and his wife taught religious studies there.
Bayrou’s statements have been contradicted by a number of people including his own daughter.
In April, Bayrou’s eldest daughter accused the clergy running the school of systemic abuse including while her father was a local official, saying a priest beat her during summer camp when she was 14.
Helen Perlant, who is now 53 and uses her mother’s name, said however that her father did not know about the incident.
Few in Bayrou’s team believe that he will be brought down over the scandal.
But “if he lies before parliament, he’s dead” politically, said a senior supporter of Macron, asking not to be named.
Bayrou has survived multiple no-confidence motions partially due to support from the Socialists. But one Socialist lawmaker, who asked not to be named, believes Bayrou is “politically finished”.
Greens have accused him of “perjury” and have called for his resignation.
A Bayrou associate emphasised that the prime minister is not the subject of the inquiry.
The inquiry focuses on “the methods used by the state to monitor and prevent violence in schools”.
After hearing witnesses, victims and former ministers, the two rapporteurs plan to deliver their conclusions in late June.
In total, 200 legal complaints have been filed since February last year accusing priests and staff at Betharram of physical or sexual abuse from 1957 to 2004.
On Monday, the father of one of the victims accused Bayrou of “lying” because the affair “was hindering his political rise”.
Some of the boarders said the experience had scarred them for life, recounting how some priests visited boys at night.
“The state has failed and has not protected the children of Betharram,” said Alain Esquerre, who represents a collective of school survivors.
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